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As reminders of a winter cut from a Russian novel linger, two words come to mind to offer
respite for our cold, aching hearts:

Play ball.

Baseball is back, this weekend’s snow be damned, and its return offers the annual sense of
renewal.

Down in Cincinnati, families will line streets today for the traditional Findlay Market Parade
preceding the opening-day game between the Reds and St. Louis Cardinals.

Here in Columbus, fans prepare to head to Huntington Park on Thursday night to see the Clippers
begin another season as the AAA affiliate of the Cleveland Indians.

Those Indians start their season tonight in Oakland, the three-game trip leading up to Friday’s
home opener in Cleveland against the Minnesota Twins.

This 145th season of Major League Baseball officially began in Australia nine days ago,
appropriately offering confusion at a time when everyone grapples with the question of where the
sport fits in our changing culture.

“Everything is so fast-paced in this world,” said Ken Schnacke, the Clippers president and
general manager. “Everything is about doing more with less with all this technology. Sometimes I
think young people need to learn how to relax. That’s one of the things we hope baseball offers. I
don’t think baseball will ever lose its place, but we have to continue to fight for its place.”

Statistics are the lifeblood of baseball, and many metrics suggest that the game is riding a
wave of popularity despite being overshadowed by the increasing size and reach of football’s
dominant kingdom.

Major League Baseball’s record revenue exceeded $8 billion in 2013, according to
Forbes, and the sport’s new national TV deals with Fox, TBS and ESPN, which begin this
season, are worth a combined $1.55 billion a year — twice as much as previous deals.

Television revenue is why the average player salary is $4 million, but spinning turnstiles at
ballparks help, too. All of the MLB’s top-10 seasons in attendance have occurred in the past
decade, with last year’s 2,426 regular-season games averaging 30,514 fans.

For those bemoaning the loss of baseball’s good-old days, consider that last year the Reds
averaged 31,151 per home game, which is more than the vaunted world-champion Big Red Machine
averaged (28,588) in 1975.

“It’s still a very popular sport, at least at the big-league level,” said Kent Mercker, a Dublin
resident who pitched in the majors for 18 seasons, from 1989 to 2008. “People are showing up and
watching the game. That’s great.

“But I don’t know if this is that last generation that still brings its kids to games, and if
that next generation has zero interest in baseball. What I worry about is the issue of, how long
can we sustain its popularity when kids aren’t getting out and playing at a young age anymore.”

The Sports and Fitness Industry Association, a trade organization, reported last year that the
number of kids ages 7 to 17 playing baseball fell 24 percent in the past decade.

“It’s a boring sport, it really is,” Mercker said. “It’s boring, but I love it. Give me boring
all day. But what’s the attention span for a 9-year-old kid standing in right field?

“When I was a kid, we didn’t have the options to play soccer or hockey or lacrosse. Now you have
options, which is good, but that’s a detriment to baseball. More kids have taken other
options."

Even the type of youth baseball is different today. Nate Whisner, 30, of Newark, sees it as
coach of his son’s Licking County Athletic 13-under team.

“Everybody plays travel baseball now,” Whisner said. “I’m worried about the future of youth
baseball. In some sense, the kids who just want to play baseball in the summer and enjoy it, those
days are getting lesser and lesser.

“The competition level has raised so much with travel leagues, they’re almost decimating regular
youth leagues, where the average kid gets a shot to grow into being a great player.”

This month, the ESPN Sports Poll results from a survey of 12- to 17-year-olds showed that 18
percent described themselves as “avid fans” of Major League Soccer — the same percentage reported
for Major League Baseball. The NFL led the poll with 39 percent.

Such statistics add to the uncertainty of baseball’s future despite its record revenue,
attendance and player salaries. Where is the game going?

“It’s a really interesting question,” said Peter Rutkoff, a baseball novelist who has taught
about the sport as a professor of American studies at Kenyon College. “Honestly, not only do I not
know, I’m not sure baseball knows.

“I could have answered the question really well in 1970. It was so completely woven in American
culture as the quintessential American game. Now it’s not.”

Still, a sell-out crowd will greet the Reds today in Cincinnati, where professional baseball
originated in 1869. Cleveland will cheer its Indians. Columbus awaits the Clippers.

And some kids throughout central Ohio will take the field, bats and gloves in hand.

“It’s just exciting,” Whisner said. “The boys have been working hard all winter to finally get
some payoff, go outside, get some fresh air and have a blast.”